VSK NEWS
Kent’s Virtual School for Children in Care and Young Care Leavers
Welcome
I am very proud to be the Headteacher of VSK as Kent’s children in care have
achieved their best-ever exam results for the third year in a row just three
years after Kent County Council launched its Virtual School.
The latest exam results show the number of looked after children achieving
5A*-C grades has more than tripled in the past three years, with 15% achieving the important benchmark. The number reaching level 4 in Key Stage 2
Maths and English has also increased by an average of 15%. In addition to
these academic indicators, the past three years has also seen a 61% reduction in Permanent Exclusions, a 42% reduction in Persistent Absence from
school and a 44% increase in Review Health Assessments. These positive
outcomes all aid our young people in building a positive future.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our young people for all their hard
work and also all the key people who support them day in day out from their
Social Worker; Foster Carer; School; Designated Teacher; VSK Officer; IRO;
Health Professional to any key adult offering additional support.
Spring Term 2014
“We are incredibly proud
of the achievements of
our children in care. We
want our children in care
to have the same chances
in life as any other young
people and education is
such a big part of that.
The virtual school was
only set up in 2011, but
the hard work of staff is
already helping these children fulfil their potential
and hopefully have brighter futures.”
Ofsted, the government inspection body, has praised VSK for improving educational outcomes and reducing exclusions, praising its “expert, committed,
very hard working, enthusiastic and highly respected” staff.
Jenny Whittle
KCC Cabinet Member for
Specialist Childrens
Services
It has also been praised by children in care and teachers, with one saying: “It
is not fair to call it a virtual school because schools get real support from real
people when we need this.”
This year we have been nominated for three national awards:
In This Issue
1. Local Government Chronicle - Team of the Year

Welcome
2. Local Government Chronicle - Most Innovative Service Delivery Model

Awards Ceremony
3. Mental Health First Aid England - Champion Award for supporting and
promoting Youth Mental Health First Aid. I am pleased to announce that
we were shortlisted for and subsequently were awarded runner up at the
ceremony in the House of Lords in recognition of our work.

ePEP News

Locality Updates

Meet the Team

CiC Designated
Teacher Conferences
Headteacher, Virtual School Kent

Participation &
Engagement
To find out more about VSK visit: www.virtualschool.lea.kent.sch.uk

Contact Info
Tony Doran
Congratulations!
Our annual awards ceremony was held in Canterbury on 22nd September 2013 where the
achievements of more than 200 children were
recognized.
We presented 5 Gold, 17 Silver, 192 Bronze and
5 Special awards.
“… had a fantastic
time, he was so
pleased to be nominated, it was well organised and packed with
fun activities all day
long and all the helpers
were so nice and made
him feel very extra
special, a big thank
you to you all.”
“Thank you so much
for a wonderful day
yesterday, ... finds it
hard to show any emotions of any sort but
hasn't stopped talking
about it. Thank you to
you all”
The theme this year was Science and the Natural World and Dr. Vicky Fitzgerald from the University of Kent was our guest speaker. Her team
provided the science themed activities which
included firing water rockets, freezing plants with
liquid nitrogen, making ice cream and much
much more.
We also had displays by The Hawking Centre
and Canterbury Exotics along with a climbing
wall and football skills run by Paul Murray from
Crystal Palace FC.
DESIGN COMPETITION
Fantastic Prizes for
Winning Designs
Open to: Kent Children in Care of all ages
Task: Design an Invitation for this years
awards ceremony with a theme of ‘Sport
and Sports Science’
Entry: Email your invitation to
[email protected] and please include
the students name.
Deadline: Friday 30th May 2014
“I wondered if you
could pass on our
thanks to all involved in
yesterday’s award ceremony. ... had a lovely
day, not only because
he won an award! but
because it was such a
nice occasion. We’ve
never been before and
the activities, the people leading the activities, the stewards, the
food AND the award
ceremony itself, all
made it a really good
positive
day
for
him.
Our
sincere
thanks.”
ePEP NEWS
VSK are happy to report that over the next few months, young people, schools, social workers and other professionals will be noticing many exciting new developments. Some of these are significant additions (like the
16+ PEP and Early Years PEP) whilst others are smaller but equally important improvements designed to
make ePEP far more comprehensive and user friendly.
Our brand-new 16+ PEP is currently being tested and will be available by the end of February. At the other
end of the scale the Early Years PEP is also being developed and on schedule for delivery by the end of May.
Also in construction is the REWARDS section. This will be a colourful and exciting addition on the young person’s dashboard detailing points awarded and links to certificates gained.
The Attainment Section has been updated and amended making it much easier to use, with drop down menus and the ability to add all subjects in one go.
The Designated Teacher User Manual will also be a useful reference guide for schools and will be online by
the start of the Summer Term.
Kent will be the first authority to have access to ‘The Young Person’s Online Environment’ which will be
available by the end of March. This exciting development will allow the young person to be able to see their
most recent record of achievement along with lots of other relevant personal data.
ePEP Admin Team Contacts
Rachel (East Kent): 01227 284517
Rico (North Kent, Dover & Folkestone): 01233 898589
Nicholas (West Kent, Ashford, Hythe & the Marshes): 01233 898543
Ask the ePEP Team…
Here we will try to answer your most common ePEP system questions. If you have any particular question you would like us to answer then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
How do I (Designated Teacher/Support) set or change a Young Person’s Password?
Log in under your own user access and on your ‘Homepage’, click on the Young Person’s name to access
their Service User Overview page. Towards the upper left-hand side of the screen is a list of ‘Actions’.
Under the list of ‘Actions’, click on ‘Change / Set Password’. This will take you to a Change / Set Password
page. Click on the ‘Generate Key’ button. This will take you to a ‘Generate Key’ page that shows 2 sets of
numbers. The first number is the Young Person’s User Number and the second number is the unique Unlock
Key. Make a note of both these numbers and click the ‘Continue’ button. This will take you back to the Young
Person’s Overview page.
Log yourself out of the system by clicking on ‘Logout’ at top right-hand corner of the page. This will bring you
back to the general login front page of the system. Under the spaces in which you normally put your User Number and Password, there is a link at the bottom that says “I HAVE AN UNLOCK KEY”, click on this link.
This will take you to the ‘Reset your password’ screen. In the first box enter the Young Person’s User Number, remembering to precede it with the letter ‘U’. In the second box put the Unlock Key (the second of the
numbers that were generated above) and then click on the ‘Submit Key’ button. This will take you through to
the page where you can create the password for the Young Person. The password must be at least 7 characters and contain at least 1 number. Enter the password twice and click on the ‘Submit’ button. The password
for the Young Person has now been set After clicking on the ‘Submit’ button this will return you to the normal
login page where you put in the Young Person’s User Number and Password and that should take you through
to that Young Person’s Homepage.
FE & HE COUNTYWIDE UPDATE
Rachel Calver, Assistant Head FE & HE
Tel: 01732 525098 or Email: [email protected]
Transitional Support for Post 16 options
Young people will be in the process of making their post 16 options now and it can
be a confusing time. Young people now need to engage in education or training up
until the age of 18 years. To support young people with this, VSK and CXK are
working closely together to identify those young people that may need additional
support with their options post 16. We will be meeting with our College contacts to link them in with any young
people applying to them for September. Each College and University in Kent and Medway has a Designated
Contact for Care Leavers, their role is to support the young person in their journey through the College. For
those unsure of their post 16 progression, CXK will begin working with them later in the academic year to identify options for them. VSK can monitor post 16 applications made via Kent Choices 4 you so please encourage
your young person to use this on-line application process where possible.
University Mentoring
VSK are working in collaboration with the Universities in Kent and Medway to offer a mentoring scheme for
CiC and Care Leavers. The mentor is a current university student who can support the young person with a
variety of topics, including understanding the university options, finance and study skills. We currently have 11
young people engaging in this process.
NORTH KENT LOCALITY UPDATE
Jo Kelly, Assistant Head North Kent
Tel: 01732 525099 or Email: [email protected]
In November the North Kent VSK team did a joint piece of training with the STLS using the SOLIHULL APPROACH (Fostering and Adoption). This is an evidenced
based model for professionals supporting children/young people who are fostered or
adopted. It uses an integrated psychodynamic /psychotherapeutic approach, looking
at models of containment and reciprocity and how these can support behaviour management. New research on Brain development was explored alongside practical ways
of applying the theories.
This training initiative was developed to support schools with the increasingly complex cases they are encountering and to help them feel that they have a greater in depth understanding of the
themes around Children in Care e.g. disassociation / hyperarousal / projection / transference. The aim was to
give them more tools in their tool-kits when managing the dynamics of professional groups around a young
person in Care.
The two day training went very well indeed and the Evaluations indicated a 100% Excellent rating in all categories. We will be looking to roll out further Solihull training in the near future…
WEST KENT LOCALITY UPDATE
Jemma Page, Assistant Head West Kent (Maidstone & Malling)
Tel: 01732 525098 or Email: [email protected]
We have been working hard to support our CiC by ensuring they are all accessing and
working towards their educational and personal goals for 2013 – 14.
This term we welcomed our new participation apprentice Amelia Kury who has been a
great addition to the team and we are looking forward to supporting her in working directly
with our young people in care in order to increase their participation and voice within the
CiC world.
We are sad to share the news that our fabulous FELO Caroline Brewster will be leaving us
at the end of March due to her decision to retire and become a full time Grandma! We do not know how we will ever
replace her and as much as we wish her all the luck in the world as she goes into this new period of her life we will
all be very sad to see her go and will miss her greatly.
On a more celebratory note we are pleased to congratulate Sarah Post who is one of our support officers in West
Kent. She has recently completed the final part of her Speech and Language Therapy qualification! She has worked
hard to do this at the same time as supporting many of our young people that have speech and language difficulties.
Her work with schools has been, and continues to be, invaluable especially where she is working alongside schools
to develop their own expertise in the Speech and Language field. Sarah has kindly written an update and case study
for you in order for us to be able to demonstrate and capture some of the fantastic work she has been doing!
“I work with young people directly to assess, diagnose and provide the most appropriate intervention to support their
needs. Whilst supporting children in schools I also endeavour to build capacity in schools by modelling sessions and
training learning support assistants and SENCO’s so that the relevant skills can continue to be maintained and used
effectively. An example of recent work in a school was with a young man for whom a detailed speech and language
assessment confirmed a diagnosis of Autism which secured a statement of SEN. Once assessment was complete,
school were supported in delivering a language group addressing understanding and use of language, social skills
and speech sounds that the specialist TA was then able to deliver independently once the block was over. The programme was provided for the school to use in future thus increasing their capacity to provide a language rich and
inclusive curriculum. Speech, Language and communication needs are extremely common for CiC and I am pleased
to support schools in ensuring that these needs are met efficiently and effectively”. Sarah Post BAEd PGDip SLT
(HPC)
Margaret Hamlyn, Assistant Head West Kent, SENCO
& OOC (Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells)
Tel: 01732 525098 or Email: [email protected]
We have been working with schools to support a number of transitions for some of our
younger pupils. The schools involved have developed their support through individual
work with pupils to produce transition books and manage their ‘goodbyes’ whilst giving
them information about the school they will move on to.
In some more complex cases our support officer, Carol Moyler, has used her knowledge of, and enthusiasm
for, outdoor learning to give additional support. One very positive piece of work she has just completed gave a
very anxious young person the opportunity to combine learning Maths skills whilst developing a flower bed
which will be a reminder to staff and pupils of his time at the school. He has a photographic record of his hard
work and will receive occasional photographs to show how his planting is growing.
EAST KENT LOCALITY UPDATE
Ben Taylor, Assistant Head Canterbury and Swale
Tel: 01227 284414 or Email: [email protected]
In Canterbury & Swale we have seen a real benefit from VSK’s link with Beanstalk –
the charity previously known as Volunteer Reading Help. Beanstalk is a national
charity who recruit volunteer readers to support young people in our schools who
need a boost with their reading. Many of these volunteers are retired or trainee
teachers and we in VSK have a partnership with Beanstalk so that we can refer our
young people to them directly when we identify that extra help is needed. Beanstalk’s focus is to improve reading levels, increase overall confidence, and to inspire
a lifelong love of reading. Our partnership means that if schools have three Kent
CiC who would benefit then the service can be provided for free. In Canterbury & Swale we find that the response of Beanstalk is very quick and the young people benefit through reading, talking about books and playing literacy games. Currently we have referrals into Beanstalk for primary and secondary age children, mainstream and special school.
If schools have any young people that they would like to refer to be part of the program, the designated teacher can contact Sam Oxberry ([email protected]) at VSK and Sam will contact Beanstalk to see if
they have a volunteer ready to start in that school’s area.
Carole Bailey, Assistant Head Thanet
Tel: 01227 284550 or Email: [email protected]
‘Jamie’ was in year 2, and had come into care in November 2012. His behaviour
was extreme, and he would run off, sometimes in the direction of the busy road surrounding the school. He would climb when he was in trouble and did not know how
to behave in class. Consideration was being given to requesting statutory assessment. His behaviour was such that he was on a cycle of fixed term exclusion, and a
very restricted part time timetable.
VSK became involved and one of our support officers began to work with Jamie. His carers did a really good
job in enabling him to feel settled, but were due to retire in summer 2013. Jamie’s social worker sought a new
foster family across Thanet which provided the opportunity for a fresh start in a new school. He moved in July
2013, and VSK supported the transition by working with staff in Jamie’s old school to bring about a positive
ending, continuing to support him, especially with his literacy and language development, and also provided a
support package for the carer to use to ensure his continued progress in learning during the long summer
break.
In September there were further concerns as Jamie’s new carers were due to go on a planned holiday, but all
involved worked effectively together. Jamie’s new school have made clear that he knows he belongs, and
whilst there are the odd glitches, he is and has been in his new school, full time in lessons. Jamie is making
good progress and is able to engage in school life. He is making good progress and now beginning to make
new friends. Well done to all who have worked together to ensure Jamie’s life chances are much improved.
SOUTH KENT LOCALITY UPDATE
Jen Kemp, Assistant Head South Kent (Ashford, Hythe & The
Marsh)
Tel: 01227 284508 or Email: [email protected]
The locality team kicked off the new academic year with their usual boundless energy
and enthusiasm, ready to take on the triumphs and challenges that our young people
in care present us with. This year we have been particularly focussed on raising the
quality of Personal Education Plans and monitoring the progress our students make
who have the benefit of working alongside our trusty and ever adaptable Support Officer Sam Pilcher.
Sam’s case load has seen her support pupils as young as 5 and as worldly wise as 16. Her work has included
many cases of transition support, whether that be at normal times of transition or in-year as a result of children
moving placement and subsequently schools. This work stream for all our VSK support officers has been highlighted and praised by the recent Ofsted Inspection into KCC’s Child In Care Services and Sam is now working
on presentation materials to support the promotion of their work further across the county.
Our other locality team members have also been working as equally hard – Steve Orwin our FELO, and Mandy
Barrett our EWO, have been getting to know the locality carers and schools since joining this locality team just
over a year ago. And we welcome Teresa McCarthy who re-joins our locality team as CiC Specialist
Nurse. Teresa is looking forward to re-acquainting herself with the CiC whom she may not have seen now for
a number of years since last working this patch some three years ago.
Next term I look forward to our continued work together and thank you for your valued contribution towards promoting, supporting and advocating for our children in care, your pupils and students, positive progress and
achievement at school.
Marian Smith, Assistant Head South Kent (Folkestone & Dover)
Tel: 01227 284468 or Email: [email protected]
I would like to celebrate the work of Jo Rees my support worker, in Folkestone, who
joined us last February. Jo has proved to be a big hit with the both the staff and young
people she works with, and she can be very persuasive in getting disenchanted adolescents to be more enthusiastic about their learning. Jo is diplomatic, hardworking
and caring - a real asset to the team. I have asked her to tackle some outlandish 1:1
work in an effort to re-engage a few of our more challenging young people. This has
included the theory of Equine Management (she had to work in the stable block!) and
the theory behind Hairdressing (she did get a free blow dry for this one!) both times in return for the young ladies concerned agreeing to attend and make progress with their English and Maths GCSE studies. Jo has also
modelled how to seek help in higher level GCSE lessons (by putting her hand up and asking!) much to the
amusement of the young person she was supporting in class!! I now refer to her as my secret weapon of mass
engagement. I would like to thank her for all her hard work and unfailing good humour!
Meet the Team….A day in the life of an Assistant Head
Hello, my name is Jo Kelly and I am Assistant Head for VSK in the North Kent locality. That means I have
a team who support all the schools in Gravesham, Dartford and Sevenoaks to help the Kent Children in
Care to achieve really well in their Education.
Today I am off in the car to Dartford to deliver some ‘Trauma and Attachment’ training to a school where
we have eight children on roll. I just need to make a quick call to one of my Support Officers before I go to
make sure that she is ok for a difficult PEP meeting today with one of our children who is in a TRP
(Therapeutic Re-Parenting) foster placement - he is showing very challenging behaviours that are difficult
to cope with in a usual foster care placement.
I arrive nice and early to set up and have a chat with the Designated Teacher, she is looking into setting up
a Group for their Children in Care so they can meet weekly and do some fun activities together. We talk
about how Pupil Premium could be used to fund a Learning Mentor for this and whether our VSK Participation Worker apprentice might be able to support some art or cooking with the group.
The training is all done and I’m now off to a school for an Annual Review of one of our young people’s
Statement of Educational Needs, the professionals need to think about what school might best meet her
needs at secondary - and we also need to listen to her views on the subject. I am thinking ahead about
which Support Officer might be best for helping her make the transition from primary school as our children
usually need extra support to cope with yet another change in their lives.
A quick nip into a garage for a sandwich and a drink and then it’s back to the office to check in with the
team and also to look at the data for our current year 11s working towards their end of Key Stage 4 exams.
CiC Designated Teacher Conferences
These one day events are for CiC Designated Teachers and Further Education Designated Members of
Staff presented by a range of agencies who work with or support CiC. The key areas covered will be social care, health and education. Lunch and refreshments will be provided and they are free to attend.
East Kent: Monday 24th March 2014 CPD Ref: SCH 14/367
North & West Kent: Friday 28th March 2014 CPD Ref: SCH 14/849
South Kent: Wednesday 2nd July 2014 CPD Ref: SCH 14/368
Please go to www.kentcpdonline.org.uk to book your place. If you can’t attend the training in your locality you are welcome to go along to any of the others.
Details of all VSK training can be found on our website: http://www.virtualschool.lea.kent.sch.uk/
Participation and Engagement
You may or may not be aware that Virtual School Kent hosts a website for children and young people in care.
It is called Kent Cares Town and holds all sorts of useful information and great ideas for children and young
people in care. There is also a special web based radio station.
We are keen to encourage as many of our young people as possible to use the website and be a part of its
development and so we are asking you to take some time to sit down with your CiC and help them to log in to
the website and have a listen to the radio station. There is also an area on the site where they can provide
feedback. Encourage them to send us their views so that we can improve the content for them.
The website address is www.kentcarestown.lea.kent.sch.uk
Re-launch of the Kent Pledge and the development of Kent Care Leaver’s Charter
Workshops have taken place with Kent’s CiC to create a visual and audio version of the Kent Pledge as well
as a young-person friendly flyer. This will be launched on 1st March and will appear on the Kent Cares Town
website, and also on You Tube.
Alongside this; our young people have been helping us develop a Kent Care Leavers Charter which outlines
Kent’s commitment to Care Leavers and includes the aspirations as set out in the Government Care Leaver
Charter, and incorporates the elements of the Kent pledge which specifically relate to young people moving
towards independence. Look out for these two leaflets and details on the Kent Cares town websites in March,
and please help us to spread the word!
ePEP Support
The VSK Participation Worker Apprentices role is to encourage all our CiC to come together and join in events
and activities. We help shape the services that CiC receive by working hard to ensure children and young people’s voices can be heard. We also take a lead role supporting the OCYPC (Our Children and Young People’s
Council.)
We are available to come to schools or foster carer homes to help young people fill in their ePEP questions.
Ask your VSK Assistant Head if you have any young people that would benefit from this.
In the Easter holidays we have a wide range of
activities for CiC coming up. Contact us now for
more details:
Email: [email protected]
East Kent: 01227 284432 - Sophia & Hayley
West Kent: 01732 525180 - James & Amelia
Work Experience
KCC have several work experience opportunities for CiC for one or two weeks or even as
part of a timetable .
If you know a young person who would benefit
from work experience with KCC or for more
information please call Amelia on 01732
525180 or email: [email protected].
VSK Contact Information
Tony Doran, Headteacher
Email: [email protected]
Sarah Skinner, Service Business Manager
Email: [email protected]
Malcolm Thomas, Deputy Head (North/West Kent)
Email: [email protected]
Ann Parnell, Deputy Head (East Kent)
Email: [email protected]
Marian Smith, Acting Deputy Head (South Kent)
Email: [email protected]
Judy Molyneux, Senior Admin Officer
Tel: 01233 898514
Email: [email protected]
Kroner House, Eurogate Business Park, Ashford, Kent TN24 8XU
North and West Kent Office
Tel: 01732 525099 / 98
Commercial Services Building, Gibson Drive, Kings Hill, Kent ME19 4QG
East and South Kent Office
Tel: 01227 284468 / 550
Brook House, John Wilson Business Park, Reeves Way, Whitstable, Kent CT5 3SS
To find out more about VSK visit our website: http://www.virtualschool.lea.kent.sch.uk/